The term Nazi is an abbreviation of the designation Nationalsozialist, used originally only for members and supporters of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (abbreviation: NSDAP; English: National Socialist German Workers' Party or National Socialist Party), a totalitarian fascist party in the nation-state of Germany, on Earth, in the early part of the 20th century. The Nazi Party became a tool for governmental domination by dictator Adolf Hitler who enforced policies of racial superiority and German dominance through various means such as the Nazi security organization known as the SS.

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The Nazis of Germany, part of the Axis Powers, were a feared symbol of power in the 1930s and 1940s, and were principal participants in the massive worldwide conflict which came to be known as World War II. They set a model for autocratic dictatorship, hatred and oppression that has rarely been matched in their thirst for conquest, brutality and intolerance towards their fellow man, as evidenced by their persecution and systematic extermination of whole populations they deemed inferior in their own society.

The Nazi philosophy was shrouded in symbols and rituals, such as the swastika and "heiling" and the distinct uniforms. The latter was a greeting, originally derived from what was assumed to be the formal greeting within the Roman Empire. The Nazi regime also created and distributed a wide variety of medals and awards, many of which (such as the Iron Cross) were fairly well known centuries after the defeat of the Nazis in 1945.

The Nazis were assisted by another Cold War faction, the Na'kuhl, who promised to provide advanced technology to the Nazis in exchange for goods and materials with which to construct a temporal conduit to return to the future. The Na'kuhl were eventually successful, and used the conduit to launch an attack on the 31st century, igniting the Cold War into an all-out conflict and resulting in the very alternate timeline to which the Na'kuhl had traveled in the first place. This timeline was later negated by the Enterprise NX-01, having been transported from the year 2154 by temporal agentDaniels, which destroyed the conduit before the Na'kuhl had a chance to utilize it. (ENT: "Storm Front", "Storm Front, Part II")

In yet another alternate timeline, the Nazi Party succeeded in taking over the world when DoctorMcCoy traveled through the sentient time portal known as the Guardian of Forever, from 2267 to the year 1930 on Earth, where he saved the life of a social worker named Edith Keeler. Keeler would go on to form a massive pacifist movement in America, delaying that country's entry into World War II. As peace negotiations went on, the Nazis completed their heavy water experiments, and with the atomic bomb, and the V2 rockets to carry them, Nazi Germany took control of Earth. The timeline was later corrected by CaptainKirk and Spock, who used the Guardian to travel back to a point prior to McCoy's arrival, and prevented him from saving Keeler. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")

Ekosian Nazis greeting each other in the traditional fashion referred to as "heiling"

Even after the war and the abolishment of Nazis and their propaganda, groups of neo-Nazis would occasionally arise from insular populaces. One latter-day neo-Nazi organization was started, as a twisted social experiment, by Human scientist John Gill on the planet Ekos. The Ekosians embraced Gill's rhetoric, eventually turning their hatred towards their nearest planetary neighbors, the space-faring Zeons.

As a cultural observer sent undercover and alone to the planet Ekos, Gill inadvertently showed just how powerful and dangerous the Nazi message could be, centuries after the fall of Hitler's Reich. Finding the planet in anarchy, Gill violated the Prime Directive, interfering with the planet's society in an effort to stabilize the situation by producing a more benign version of the NSDAP, emulating its efficiency to restore order. However, a subordinate, Melakon, subtly seized power by chemically incapacitating Gill and manipulated the populace into the same brutal racial supremacist policies of the original. Zeons were expelled from the Ekosian planet, or worse, rounded up into camps, just as had been done to the Jews on Earth. Even Gill was not immune, as his own Nazi party he designed used him as a puppet, drugged and helpless, to hide their ownership of the true dictatorial power. A landing party from the Federation starshipUSS Enterprise attempted to rectify the damage to that planet's society, removing Gill from power (he was eventually killed by Melakon when he denounced the usurper and disavowed his genocidal policies), and allowing a resistance effort (which included some very influential Party members) to co-opt power from the decapitated Nazis.

Dialogue from the end of the episode suggests that, while purged of its anti-Zeon fanaticism, the efficient Nazi regime itself remained in place, albeit under the more benign leadership Gill had intended.

This is often quoted as a textbook example of the importance of the Prime Directive of non-interference, the dangers of technologically superior beings manipulating younger societies. (TOS: "Patterns of Force")

A pack of Hirogen ships successfully captured the USS Voyager and forced the crew to participate in vast holodeck hunting simulations, brainwashing the crew to believe they were genuine characters in the holodecks while leaving a select minority outside to treat their wounds and create additional holobuffers throughout the ship. One of these simulations was of a Nazi occupied France during World War II. Various Hirogen hunters assumed the roles of Nazi officers and wore the uniforms of Nazi officers while working side by side with holographic simulated Nazis.